Music Review // FORSE "Harmony" (Dischi Amici)

https://dischiamici.bandcamp.com/album/harmony //

When "Harmony" first begins- for the first three songs or so- I'm not sure whether or not to take FORSE seriously.   There is a weirdo rock sense about these songs but even "Put your finger everywhere" (which is the second track) has lyrics about putting your finger in your nose which is odd.   So when I hear these three songs and when I first started listening to this album I heard them along the lines of someone like Raffi, as a children's performer, or perhaps even Dr. Demento, which is not at all a bad thing.

The more I listen to this album though and the further you get into the songs the more you can begin to take it seriously and see that it's more of just a weird album than a joke.    With hints of The Replacements I also hear a lot of that song which goes "Let my love open the door to your heart" (which has a way of showing up in Judd Apatow movies I think) especially in the first song.   There are also synths in a bedroom sense so we tow that line between synthwave and bedroom pop but overall it just feels upbeat.

To further my point that this feels like a more serious album, I also really begin to think about the lyrics.  "I'm looking for a job" is one of those songs which just works on so many levels.  You need a job to live because you need money and all of that so most people just settle working at a place because it gives them money.   Not nearly enough people are able to do something which they enjoy or could see as a career.   Truth be told, before being laid off during the pandemic I was employed, making decent money but still looking for a job because I didn't think what I was doing at the time was going to be something I did for the next however many years until retirement.

Something as simple as "I wanna dance with you tonight" can come out as the dance number while a song such as "Henry Flynt" wonders why the titular character is not as widely known as his friends (which is a good question).    On "Alright, sincerely" we get the mantra of "My life is rich and complete", which is something everyone should hopefully be able to say one day (even if it's just a matter of looking around at the good and not the bad in your life) and "Something you have to change" is a slower ballad type song which reminds me of Flaming Lips.  Almost bordering back onto that funny side, the album ends with "See you next time", a promise of more.